5/9/10

I think I'll start with the last two chapters of the Diamond Sutra. I found a pretty interesting interpretation of it. Someone went through and put it into more standard English, but they didn't seem to lose the essence of it. It doesn't sound as mysterious, but the essence of the teaching is still there, so if you're using the Diamond Sutra and struggling with the more "correct" version of it, this particular translation is a pretty good one. I can give you to the website for it: www.diamond-sutra.com/diamond_Sutra_text.

The chapter starts, "The Lord Buddha continued, if any person were to say that the Buddha in his teachings has constantly referred to himself, to other selves, to other living beings or to the universal self, what do you think, would that person have an understanding of my meaning?"Subhuti replied, "No blessed Lord. That person would not have understood the meaning of your teachings, for when you refer to those things, you are not referring to their actual existence. You are only using the words as figures of speech, as symbols. Only in that sense can words be used, for conceptions, ideas, limited truths and spiritual truths have no more reality than have matter or phenomena.

Gilbert: So what's that make you?

Student: A figment of my imagination.

Gilbert: Now we're getting somewhere. A figment of your imagination. Where's the "you" in that? Or is that also a figment? Isn't that what the Diamond Sutra is saying? What is in mind is mind. It has to be mind. Whatever you're using right now has to be mind. Is it real? It's real, but one must be clear that what we are doing is not a consciousness. There is awareness of the mind. All the other aspects that are functioning within the mind are phenomenal, due to causes and conditions.

So, for instance, if you're thinking about something right now, it's because causes and conditions put it into your mind, it didn't just accidentally come up. You would, in this moment, be very unlikely to be thinking about boating down the Amazon River unless you had seen some National Geographic program on TV, but all this confusion and thinking about what I'm talking about right now would naturally be there, simply because this is current and you're going, "What the heck is he talking about? I hope he doesn't call on me." So it's natural that all these things are there, but they are continually changing.

But there is another aspect to it. There was a monk who would go around using a play on words in Chinese about the emptiness of things, "Empty empty, everything's empty." He was in the dining hall and kept saying "Empty. Empty. Everything's empty," and then after he finished eating he's walking outside, "Everything's empty" Then of one of his brethren called to him, "Oh, monk." He turned around and the other monk said, "Don't disregard this." What was he telling him not to disregard? Mind. Don't disregard mind. The mind is there. The mind is there, not self. So what was this monk's mistake, the one that was walking around saying "emptiness?"

Student: He was attaching to emptiness.

Gilbert: Yes, attaching to the concept of emptiness and not seeing the thusness of the particular moment. There is a thusness in this moment, perfectly precise. Form is none other than emptiness; emptiness is none other than form. It's perfectly that way, form is precisely emptiness; emptiness is precisely form. This moment is occurring perfectly in accordance with all sorts of different things, factors that we cannot even begin to see, although enough information is there that you have an interest in this topic and bring yourself here and to listen to this. Any other connections are very intricate but we need not try to figure it all out. What we understand is that it's precisely happening and it's clear what's happening. And it's happening because of what? What brings this forth?

Student: Causes and conditions.

Gilbert: Causes and conditions bring everything forth. These causes and conditions arise out of the noumenon, or the noumenal nature of the mind, as do phenomena. We neither attach to the noumenon nor attach to the phenomena. We neither say one exists nor does not exist, as these are concepts. Why am I talking about this in this way? Because the practice is not in the concepts, although the concepts are critical and important to use. The practice is in the thusness of every single moment, every single moment one is aware, and if one is aware in this way we are clear.

Then the Lord Buddha made his meaning even more emphatic by saying, "Subhuti, when people begin their practice of seeking and obtaining total enlightenment, they ought to see, to perceive, to know, to understand, and to realize that all things and all spiritual truths are no things and therefore they ought not to conceive within their minds any arbitrary conceptions whatsoever even that there are no things."

This is very deep, but what I'm giving you is something where you cannot attach to anything. Nothing is of use to you conceptually. This mind, this moment, is timeless. It's not short, not long, it's timeless, and you put your mind there, you put your mind in this timelessness, clearly aware as to what is happening moment to moment to moment. When you're aware of what arises in mind then you will know your self-nature and you will not be deceived by the thoughts arising in mind and take them to be your mind. You will understand phenomena: transient, constantly changing, impermanent. But that which is not impermanent is this, and everything arises out of that.

When you know that, it's cool. The world's a lot cooler because you understand why these things are happening, you're there. It doesn't mean that if you're cold in a room or hot in a room, or it's loud, or you're hungry, that you won't be hungry or it won't be loud. You just won't suffer from it. You may experience pain or discomfort but you will not suffer. When you suffer, you amplify feelings, you create emotions and when you have these emotions, you color the world. But you can realize it and recognize that the world is precisely functioning in this way.

Today I worked on a response to an attorney. We had a trial involving three siblings, two brothers and one sister. Their parents had written a trust. After they died, one sibling was put in charge of the family's estate and the people on the other side are challenging my client because, to the perception of the sister, he wasn't moving fast enough to get everything finished. At the trial, I explained the reasons why there were delays, including some that were caused by the sister. The judge was a very wise judge and in my opening statement I said, do not see this case antiseptically by simply applying the law, but see clearly exactly what happened. The judge understood this.

The other attorney lost the case so he filed a very long 14-page request for the judge to overturn his tentative written decision. He proceeded to insult not just me but also the judge, which is not a smart thing to do. You never insult the judge who's going to make the decision on a case. But he did it and he took issue with my saying that it was antiseptic and objected to the judge using a Webster's dictionary to define the word diligent, that it wasn't a legal term, and that his client was diligent in doing his work.

In my response, I defined the word antiseptic with Webster's dictionary, which says that it means "devoid of emotion and devoid of experience and of any worldly matters," and I said that when you do things in that way, it's clean but not clean in a good way. The other attorney wanted the judge just to apply the law and say to my client, "You didn't file the report or whatever, so you're outa here." But there were reasons behind it, so I explained it the way I saw it.

The difference is that when a person is very clear about what is happening and they see the causes and conditions, they're utilizing wisdom to come up with a solution. The judge fashioned a solution that gave my client a limited time to get the trust resolved and increased the bond that my client had to post - a very wise solution, But this attorney didn't see it. All he could see was that he lost and that clouded the way he saw things, rather than try to harmonize with the situation and say that these people didn't really need to be in court. He said that I used the word "piteous," but I said no, it was "pitiable" because it was pitiable that two siblings had to go to court to fight over family matters and that's precisely what was happening.

So when we look at things clearly, we find a way to solve problems. We find a way to harmonize. This attorney was not being a good attorney. He was very aggressive and fighting a lot, but it's a fool's fight when we do things like that rather than try to harmonize. How many times in your life have you guys fought the fool's fight? "Get 'em. Don't let 'em say that to you! Fight back!" And what happens? Nothing good, right? When we fight like we're not clear in the moment.

So all of this stuff were talking about - mind, impermanence, emptiness, no-concept - it all comes down to practical, common sense things you can use in your daily life. What is happening in this moment? Be clear about it. Are you sure what's happening in this moment? Then engage. You don't engage first and then try to figure it out later. You're very clear about it, clear about what your words are going to be, clear about what your actions are going to be, and what you're thinking. You retake control over your mind so that you are clear that whatever is there is following a particular function. We use the concepts - we cannot say that the Buddha is telling Subhuti to just drop concepts. He's saying those concepts are necessary, we need them to communicate, but on the other hand we have to be clear about what we're doing moment to moment and clear about everything that's unfolding.

When we meditate, it's a controlled environment. It enables us to not be distracted by any forms, sensations or mind thoughts. We're just simply sitting, following our method, and little by little our mind will settle. When it settles, it settles naturally into the true nature and when we get up we're maintaining that true nature. The trick in the practice is maintaining that true nature. But it's very easy to lose that true nature once you get up off the cushion. Then what good was it just sitting there? This controlled environment enables you to practice when you get off the cushion. Keep the mind stable, keep it clear, very, very quiet. You could make the mind very quiet at all times. When you're engaged in talking to people, seeing things or debating, it's even more important for the mind to be very quiet in what you're doing, so that you harmonize and don't make mistakes. This is what is being said here in the Diamond Sutra.

So we get to the last chapter of the Diamond Sutra which is a very good chapter. "Subhuti, if anyone gave the Buddha an immeasurable quantity of seven treasures sufficient to fill the whole universe, (imagine Bill Gates with all his money multiplied by 1 billion zillion zillion, filling this entire universe with treasures, alms for the poor. That would be something very great, a very charitable display) and if another person, whether a man or a woman, in seeking to attain complete enlightenment were to earnestly and faithfully observe and study even a single section of the sutra and explain it to others, the accumulated blessing and merit of that latter person would be far greater.

So any blessing that I would get from this I would transfer to you. Why is the blessing worth more than giving away all of this incredible wealth? Actually the original translation was that if, for each grain of sand in the Ganges River there was another Ganges River, and if all the grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers were treasure chests, and you gave them to the poor, that would be great. So, why is explaining something from this Sutra more valuable than that?

Student: Is it something like the saying, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime?"

Gilbert: It's very similar to that. It will deliver him, because causes and conditions never fail. Even the rich and famous suffer with everybody else despite their incredible wealth, but if you study the Sutra and take it to heart, it will begin to alleviate your suffering because you realize that all of this stuff, wealth and fame, is transitory. It's an illusion, but you think it's real and as long as you think it's real, you amplify it with your self and make it horrible thing. When you were a little kid and maybe even now in your life, you're in your bed and you hear a creak. You amplify it and what do you think it is after a while? A burglar? The boogeyman? Because the self is so strong, so incredibly strong, it does things in this way.

So when we practice, we see things clearly. We try to set the self down and as we set the self down, we do better, we harmonize with people. More importantly we find that our common ground is that all people suffer. We suffer and others suffer. As you begin to practice, you find your suffering doesn't matter as much as trying to alleviate the suffering of other people. At least you know you suffer. Other people don't even know they suffer. The ironic thing about it is that we're all good at suffering. Whenever the self shows up we suffer greatly. You know, I'm a good sufferer, how about you, have you suffered today? This week? Who has a black belt in suffering? A lot of us do.

So he says, "Subhuti, how can one explain this Sutra to others without holding in mind any arbitrary conception of form or phenomena or spiritual truths? It can only be done, Subhuti, by keeping the mind in perfect tranquility and free from any attachment to appearances."

He just told you how to practice. There's your gift. He just said, "by keeping the mind in perfect tranquility and free from any attachment to appearances." They call this the Heartwood of the Buddha's teachings or the Heartwood of the Bodhi. The heartwood is the very center of the tree. What he's saying here is that you keep your mind quiet, in perfect tranquility. Perfect means that it's perfectly aware, perfectly clear, moment to moment to moment. What is the nature of things? Simply quiet. It's silent, but it's illuminated, free from any attachment to appearances.

So, there's the silence, which is this perfect tranquility - the mind is not moving - and it's free from the attachment to appearances because the mind is illuminated, it's enlightened. It's aware of what is arising, moment to moment, in mind and that does not mean inside your noggin, it means all of this. Everything that you see is in mind, there's no other place but there, and it's clear about that.

So he continues, "So I say to you, this is how you contemplate our conditioned existence in this fleeting world: (another translation would be "this is how you should think of this fleeting world:) a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a dewdrop on a leaf, a, a morning star, a phantasm, illusion, or a dream.

This is the reality of things: they are and they aren't. They are not and they are. There is no concept there, one is simply aware of how mind functions. One is aware by allowing the mind to settle into this great tranquility, not attaching to form, not attaching to anything. When the mind sees in this way, it will act in a perfectly functioning way. When it's not in that way you become a great sufferer.

When we practice meditation, we use this spirit of Chan to practice, to bring the mind to a halt, to know that we stay on the method for a reason, and we know why. We know the difference between awareness and a cogitating mind. You're just sitting there meditating, (whispers) "it's so quiet - boy, it's really quiet right now - I'm doing really good - I'm gonna tell Gilbert about this." But no, the self is still there. You have to recognize even those subtleties of internal discussion are not you, they're simply arising due to causes and conditions. You're enjoying that moment. Let it go, let the mind be aware of that and just become subtler and subtler, letting go, letting go…

In the beginning, it's enough just to get rid of our gross sensations, but as we begin to practice, we let go of the subtler sensations. But it's not impossible for beginning meditation students to stay on the method, to bring the mind to a quiet state. It's very difficult for them to keep it there for a long time, but it's not impossible. You can do it. You just have to not have thoughts in the mind. It's something that might be a concept to you, but you have to go beyond that. You have to just try to feel the spirit of the Diamond Sutra, try to feel what I'm talking about in your heart and when we meditate, use that spirit to do it.

For those of you that helped and participated in our discussion, I thank you, because your questions and your confusions and your statements are the same for everybody else who doesn't talk. It's helpful for you and helpful for others. When you begin to articulate and try to express it, you begin to see how you get trapped by the self. That's good, because even though you're participating and talking, you realize the answer lies somewhere else.

Well, I didn't get to the easy stuff today, but I hope this will help you. I'm sorry if it's a little too detailed for some people who just started, but you'll find that the practice of Chan is very simple. Just don't attach to things and be aware in every moment of what is coming and going in the mind.